-.„-.-^^.'„,' %. 



^.-. ^^'\^'^m/ '^^^\ '°^^S J'^\ ^--^w/ 






0^ 









\ 






;• *-?„ ...^' 


















%. J'' 












x.^^^ 







xOv\ 






^--■^^ 















> 




























.^^^ 




^. •on"'-' .V" o,. " "TT-. • '" ^0*^ '*^<s 












^<-^ 
-^^ 












.<?> v.. '^. ,>V o«<,. -^^ 



*-. 





















A^ .V^%^> -^^ 






'^•o^ 




\""'^-*^^ 












^-.. 




, -^ 



•* >^ 



-^^0^ 

^^°- 



^^'- %..r 






THE 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



HON. RICHARD SKINNER 



DISCOURSE READ BEFORE AND AT THE REQUEST 
OF THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 



MONTPELIEK, OCTOBER 20. 1863, 



WIX8L0W C. WATSON. 



ALBANY, N. Y. : 

J. :\IUNSELL, 78 STATE STREET 

18G3. 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



H0:N^. RICHARD SKI]^:N^ER; 



DISCOURSE READ BEFORE AND AT THE REQUEST 
OF THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 



MONTPELIEK, OCTOBER 20, 1863, 



WINSLOW C. WATSON. 



.' p'" 



ALBANY, N. Y. : 

J. MUNSELL, 78 STATE STREET. 

1863. 



■•St 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



HON. RICHARD SKINNER. 



Gentlemen of the Society : 

While I return tny sincere tlianks for the privilege of appear- 
ing before you on this occasion, I unite with you in regretting 
that the eminent gentleman to whom the invitation of the Soci- 
ety was first ver}' appropriately addressed, has not been al- 
lowed by circumstances to gratify your wishes. My labors, 
however, have been relieved and gilded by the materials which 
he and other prominent citizens of your State, have with great 
kindness and alacrity supplied me. 

The intimate and affectionate relations which existed between 
Mr. Skinner and myself, would have embarrassed the expres- 
sion of opinions which my individual feelings and judgment 
might have dictated. The appreciative views of his character 
and services by other persons, M'hose utterances are not re- 
stricted by the barriers with which I am surrounded, and who 
are far more familiar with the events of his active life, will es- 
sentially supply the elements of this paper. In a domestic in- 



terconrse of several years, which was always confidential and 
kind, I rarely heard Mr. Skinner allude to his judicial or politi- 
cal life. His characteristic modesty and habitual reticence 
seemed to shrink from any discussion of liis eminent public ser- 
vices. 

I congratulate yon, gentlemen, upon tiie wisdom and patriot- 
ism which suggested the organization of your Society, and on 
the energy and spirit with which its objects have been pursued. 
Abroad, it is regarded among the most conspicuous and valua- 
ble institutions of the State. Similar associations exist in other 
parts of the Union ; but I know of none whose operations are 
conducted with equal zeal, or where the results are so tangible 
in the rich treasures which are accumulating to aid and guide 
the researches of the future historian — The acts and services 
of individuals, form the materials of a nation's annals. Garner 
up the authentic legends and traditions of prominent men, 
and preserve the records of their transactions, and you create a 
centre of light and intelligence which will illumine the history 
of your State. 

I have been amazed by observing in my own local researches, 
the ravages made by a single decade, among the fountains of 
oral history in a community. Visit any new district of our 
country and attempt to trace the annals of its early settlement, 
and you will probably be met with the response, that often ar- 
rested my investigations, "had these inquiries been made a 
few years ago, persons were then living who could have im- 
parted all the information you desire." The facts and incidents 
which they had gathered up, with industry and forecast, were 
then lost forever. 

Can we calculate the illumination which would have been 
shed upon the chronicles of Vermont, had your fathers antici- 



5 

pated your labors by one half of a century ? You do not re- 
quire any inspiration from my eulogiums ; yet I can not restrain 
a humble tribute to the utility and importance of the services 
yon are rendering to posterity. 

Sixty-three years ago, Vermont was the land of realization 
as well as hope to the aspiring youth of New England. The 
portals of the vast West had not then been opened ; and even 
New York, in its most luxuriant territories, was scarcely acces- 
sible to the emigrant. Vermont allured to its borders, not alone 
from the beauty and magnificence of its scenery, the exuber. 
ance of its soil, and the salubrity of its climate, but far more, 
by the romance and brilliancy of its history. At that period, 
the Green Mountains were, to the teeming hives of Connecticut, 
what the prairies of the West have been in our own age. 

The Hon. Robert Pierpont, who, although a lad, had fallen at 
an earlier day into this tide of emigration, furnishes me with 
this graphic picture : " Sometime," he writes, " in September, 
1800, a young gentleman rode up to the hotel in Matichester, 
on a small, active road horse, with capacious saddle-bags, well 
filled. He was a slender, straight, trim-built young man, cour- 
teous in his manners, with very black eyes and hair, and dark 
complexion — dressed in the usual costume of that day, of eques- 
trian travelers — a blue dress coat, light vest, and olive col- 
ored velvet cheerivalles over his pants and boots, with spurs. 
I at once recognized the traveler as Richard Skinner, whom 
I had known in Litchfield." 

This young gentleman, thus pleasantly introduced by Gover- 
nor Pierpont, and who was destined to perform so conspicuous 
a role in the great drama of public affairs in his adopted State, 
was the third son of General Timothy Skinner of Litchfield, 
Connecticut. General Skinner had been an officer in the army 



6 

of the Revolution, and was remarkable, in deportment and cos- 
tume, as a gentleman of the old school. Although in moderate 
pecuniary circumstances, he occupied a highly respectable so- 
cial position, and exercised a large political influence in his 
community. General Skinner traced his lineage through a re- 
putable line of ancestry in this country, back to the commence- 
ment of the last century. 

Richard was born at Litchfield, on the 30th of May, 1718, and 
received his baptismal name in memory of the heroic Montgom- 
ery. His mother was Susannah, the daughter of Isaac Marsh, 
who was descended from one of the first settlers of Litchfield. 
In the maternal line, Richard Skinner was closely related to 
several emigrants from his native State, who have been inti- 
mately and most honorably associated with the political and ju- 
dicial histor}' of Vermont. I refer to Horatio Seymour, who so 
long and faithfully represented the State in the federal Senate 
— to Samuel S. Phelps, whose name was a synonym for talent 
and learning, and to the Honorable Robert and John Pierpont, 
a former and present Judge of your Supreme Court. 

Roger Skinner, an elder brother, settled on Sandy Hill, New 
York, a little earlier than the emigration of Richard to Vermont. 
He occupied, until the close of his life, a most conspicuous 
position in his profession, and in the politics of that State. He 
was District Attorney, and afterwards Judge of the United 
States District Court, and a member of the State senate, in 
the palmy days of that body, when it was enlightened by some 
of the brightest intellects of the nation. During a long series of 
years, Roger Skinner was the close personal friend ol' Martin 
Van Buren, forming with him a common household, and his 
confidential political adviser. They were both members of that 
mighty, but intangible, power, "The Albany Regency," which 



for many years controlled the destiny of New York. Another 
brother, Oliver, migrated in youth to Georgia, and after attain- 
ing professional distinction, died there, at an earl}'^ age. A 
still younger brother, James, fell at the threshold of manhood, 
while developing the highest qualities of mind and character. 
These brothers exhibited one of those rare spectacles, in which 
an entire family are distinguished by eminent intellectual 
endowments. 

Eichard Skinner enjoyed no higher educational advantages 
than those aflTorded by the ordinary common schools of his 
youth. While a mere lad, he left home to occupy the situation 
of clerk, in a store at New Haven; and he subsequently spent 
a year in the same employment in the city of Albany. He 
remained in these instructive schools for practical life, until he 
entered the celebrated law school in Litchfield, where he accom- 
plished his professional education. Tradition relates that he 
made great proficiency in his studies, under the guidance of 
its eminent professors, and in attending the lectures of that 
institution. 

He had just received his professional diploma, when he made 
his advent in Vermont, in pursuit of fortune, 

" The world was all before him, where to choose. " 
The horse he rode, and the contents of the " capacious saddle- 
bags, " constituted all his worldly estates, 

Mr, Skinner arrived in Vermont while society was convulsed 
by the thi'oes of that stupendous political revolution which shook 
the Union to its deepest foundations. The interval between 1798 
and the war of 1812 witnessed the prevalence of a party spirit 
intenser, more rancorous and bitter, than at any other period has 
infiamed the angry passions of our people. The party controver- 
sies of that age were stimulated by the loftiest and most momeu- 



8 



tous questions of Constitutional law. These controversies wer 
not ignoble contests to secure governmental patronage; they 
were not animated by mere individual preferences, nor dictated 
by the evanescent scliemes and expediencies of the hour. They 
involved the construction of that great charter, which each party 
alike professed to cherish and revere. The Constitution, in that 
epoch of our history, was not merely a waxen image, to be 
moulded and changed by every passing pressure. The principles 
of Republican institutions were to be enunciated; the enduring 
policy of the government in its new foreign relations was to be 
inaugurated; and the basis was to be formed to support the 
fabric of our approaching national greatness. The impassioned 
conflicts of opinions, in interests so vast, and questions so 
exciting and transcendent in importance, tore society asunder, 
as the veil of the temple was rent. 

These party collisions shattered into fragments the harmony 
of many a domestic circle — the amenities and intercourse of 
society were arrested at party lines — the festivities of youth 
were restrained or divided by their influences — and the sanctu- 
aries of God were distinguished by party names, and profaned 
by the presence and the feuds of party animosities. Excite- 
ments, dissensions and conflicts, like these, were calculated to 
evolve all the energies of a young and mighty people: and we 
know that giants lived in those days. The professions, in the 
patronage they received and the influences they exerted, were 
deeply affected by political considerations; and, if we listen to 
the legends of parties, we may conjecture, without any probable 
injustice, that they penetrated even into the temples of Justice. 

In the early part of the present century, the county of Ben- 
nington sustained a controlling attitude in the political afi'airs 
of Vermont. The prestige of her people, acquired by their 



9 

heroic defence of popular immunities against external ag-gres- 
sion, and by their Revolutionary fame, was still redolent and 
brilliant. Influential families and commanding intellects were 
concentrated in the village of Bennington, which formed a focus 
of Republican principles, from which an influence was diffused 
that pervaded the whole State. By a singular coincidence, 
while a large mnjority of the legal profession in the south part 
of the county were Republicans, every member of the bar in 
the north shire, the central power of wliich was located at 
Manchester, was attached to the Federal party. Mr. Skinner 
was a decided and ardent Republican; and his loyalty to demo- 
cratic principles never faltered or decayed. In the existence 
of such circumstances, it was natural that the Republican 
dynasty (as in tliose days this influence was designated) at 
Bennington sh(nild be most solicitous to secui-e the location in 
the Federal district of the county, of a young man and a political 
disciple, who bore the highest credentials of character and 
capacity. Influential individuals in Manchester united in 
urging Mr. Skinner to establish himself in that picturesque 
village. Strong inducements had previously been presented 
b}' prominent gentlemen in the eastern section of the state, to 
prevail on him to open an office in Windham county. In 
accordance with their earnest invitation, he determined to visit 
that county before deciding on a permanent location. Judge 
Pierpoiit thinks Mr. Skinner was admitted, during that visit, 
to the County Court of Windham. On the return from his 
eastern tour, he adopted the village of Manchester as his future 
home, and resided there the residue of his life ; and there is 
his sepulchre. 

The bar of Bennington county at that time embraced several 
2 



10 

members of distinguished reputation, four of whom had already- 
occupied seats on the bench of the Supreme Court. The courts 
of Bennington were also habitually attended by the most 
eminent Counsel from the adjacent counties, and from other 
states. 

The Federal party, in the wanton and intolerant exercise of 
the power it grasped at the election of '98, had swept from 
position every prominent official in the county, except the Chief 
Judge, Samuel Safford, whose venerable character, and the 
judicial services of more than a quarter of a century, alone 
shielded from the proscription of party violence. In 1800 the 
Republicans secured the ascendancy in the General Assembly, 
and adopting the precedent established by their antagonists, 
restored to office all their friends who had been removed during 
the Federal domination. This rnovcraeut placed the incumbent 
of every county office in the South shire. The Republicans 
maintained their preponderance at the succeeding election, and 
the North shire demanded a distribution of the offices. The 
incumbents were distinguished by their peculiar capacity for 
their respective stations (and capacity in those days, Judge Pier- 
pont remarks, "was esteemed a desirable qualification for 
office"), and to supersede either of them was a delicate and 
embarrassing step. The controversy was ultimately concili- 
ated by conceding tlie appointment of State's Attorney to the 
North shire. This was promptly conferred on Mr. Skinner. 

He held the office of State's Attorney without intermission un- 
til he was removed, in 1813, when the Federalists had retrieved 
a temporary ascendency in the Legislature. 

On the 18tl) of September, 1803, Mr. Skinner was married to 
Fanny Pierpont, the eldest daughter of Robert Pierpont, Esq., 
of Manchester — Combining with singular energy of character 



11 

and masculine powers of mind, the noblest qualities of the wo- 
man, she was the fitting companion of a great man; and for 
nearly the third of a century, was to her husband a devoted 
wife, a wise counselor and efficient helpmate. 

In the year 1806, Mr. Skinner received the appointment of 
Judge of Probate, for the Manchester District, and retained the 
office until the political revolution in the State, of 1813. The 
most active period in the professional career of Mr. Skinner, was 
probably between his admission to the c(jurts of Vermont and 
his entrance, in 1813, into political life. He remained only a 
brief term in a subordinate position at the bar ; but steadily 
and rapidly advanced to the front ranks of the profession. The 
Hon. Leonard Sargeant thus describes the professional standing 
of Mr. Skinner : 

" When I entered his office as a Law student, in 1812, in ad- 
dition to an extensive professional practice, he was a distin- 
guished advocate — may be said to have been engaged in all 
the litigated cases in Bennington county, and to a considerable 
extent in Rutland and other adjacent counties, and also in the 
Circuit and District Courts of the United States." 

Soon after his appointment, as I infer, Mr. Skinner, as State's 
Attorney, conducted a trial under an indictment for murder. 
This was the first trial for that ofiense in the county, after the 
conviction of Redding under the jurisdiction of Ethan Allen, 
and created a profound and universal sensation. The celebrated 
Pierpont Edwards, of New Haven, led the defence, and the trial 
resulted in a verdict of manslaughter. Mr. Edwards, whose 
keen and sagacious mind could adequately appreciate talent, 
and discern the presages of future distinction, speaking of the 
trial, and referring to Mr, Skinner, remaked : " That young man 
will make a high mark in your State," 



12 



The texture and qualities of Mr. Skinner's mind were preemi- 
nently adapted to secure general professional success, and to 
the peculiar achievement of distinction as a Counselor and Ad- 
vocate. The Hon. Milo L. Bennett, who for many years was 
the neighbor and intimate friend of Mr. Skinner, has favored 
me with the following most just and striking portraiture of his 
professional character and habits : " In respect to his char- 
acter as a Lawyer and Judge, hardly too much can be said in 
his praise. He was an honest Lawyer and had great industry 
in his profession. He would so understand his client's case, 
and so analyze the matter, as to get hold of the right, which in 
his hands was as " tlie sparkling diamond." His native talents 
for the bar were of the very first order, and he was well edu- 
cated in the profession at the Litchfield school. In his argu- 
ments to a Court and jury, he was logical and clear, almost be- 
yond any man I ever heard. His arguments were always 
arranged in the most convenient order, and best adapted to 
illustrate his subject. He always argued the very case then 
before the court." 

" His style of speaking was free, calm, clear, chaste, concise 
and precise. He well understood how to express ideas by 
words, and the very ideas, too, he wished toexpress. Although 
animated and forcible in his style of speaking, he was never 
turgid. Bombast and rant had no favor with him. His man- 
ner had the simplicity of a child. He was somewhat peculiar 
as a man of order — everything had a place and was in the 
right place. His law was compressed and stored in his mind 
for future use." 

"The facility with which, as an advocate or a judge, he 
would unravel complicated cases, and make 'the right' clearly 
to appear, was to be attributed in no small degree to the oi'der 



13 

and precision with wliich legal principles were stored away in 
his mind. He took a deep interest in his client's cause, and if 
his client did not succeed it was rarely if ever the fault of his 
counsel. Indeed, I always regarded Richard Skinner as one of 
the safest and most trustworthy Lawyers with whom business 
could be intrusted." 

After adverting to the uncommon familiarity of Mr. Skinner 
with legal principles, Judge Pierpont remarks: "He had a 
clear, logical and discriminating mind to make application of 
these principles to the events passing before him, and a mode 
of communicating his own perceptions to those he addressed, 
so that they must understand. I have, when a boy, heard the 
judges of the Supreme Court say that Skinner would carry his 
case by his opening statement." 

To this glowing homage, from such sources, to the profes- 
sional reputation of Mr. Skinner, I need add no sympathetic 
opinion of my own. I always observed with great aduiiration 
the presence of peculiar qualities in the intellectual organiza- 
tion of Mr. Skinner, which I can readily conceive must have 
imparted vast power and effect to his efforts as an advocate. 
He was endowed with a wonderlul forecast, by which he seemed 
in the ordinary affairs of life to discern and penetrate the future, 
with almost the prescience of prophecy. Another of these char- 
acteristics, was the rapid and intuitive perception by which he 
would grasp and comprehend the most intricate subjects. The 
flashes of his mind would illuminate a whole theme by an in- 
stantaneous conception of all its bearings. Mr. Skinner pos- 
sessed another distinguishing trait of mind, which is far from 
being the uniform accompaniment of great intellectual powers 
— a clear and accurate judgment founded upon a vigorous 
practical good sense. 



14 

Governor Sargeaiit reveals a most attractive glimpse of the 
inner professional life of Mr. Skinner, in a genial and graceful 
recollection of youth. He says: "One peculiarity in him it is 
to be regretted is not more general in the legal profession. 
He did not consider his whole duty discharged to young men 
in his office by giving thorough professional instruction, but 
uniformly impressed on their minds a high sense of their moral 
duties as Lawyers and citizens; strongly urging on them the 
absolute necessity of strict integrity as essential to the gaining 
a high and honorable position in the profession. And this prin- 
ciple was on his part always carried out by a lofty example. T 
believe I can strictly say, that so far as I ever made any pro- 
gress from a green, reckless, thoughtless boy towards a man, I 
am more indebted to his counsel — always so kindly given — 
than to all other causes." 

Mr. Skinner commenced his political career at a period when 
the intense and bitter party spirit to which I have referred had 
reached its deepest exasperation. In principle and by his 
matured convictions he was Republican in his political senti- 
ments. He had yielded his sanction and support to the policy 
which had culminated in the declaration of war against Eng- 
land, in all the ardor of youthful enthusiasm, and with all the 
energies and earnestness of his character. Every member of 
the former Congress from Vermont, except Mr. Chittenden, had 
voted for that bold and decisive measure. Without an army, 
with only the shadow of a navy, destitute of finances, and the 
popular sentiment of the nation irreconcilably divided, the 
Republican party did not pause to calculate contingencies. 
Patriots could discern no other refuge or vindication of the 
fame and honor and outraged rights of the nation save by the 
stern arbitrament of arms. The war of 1812 has been termed, 



15 

not inappropriately, the second war of Independence. If, by 
the first, our country received its national existence; by the 
second we asserted our position in the family of nations, and 
burst the vassalage of the seas. The dogma of despotism 
which denied vigor and patriotism to free institutions was 
subverted, and by deeds of glory and in scenes of heroic sacri- 
fices we wrested from the world its respect and admiration. 

Patriots of every name responded in the spirit of '76, to the 
appeals of the government, unappalled by the darkness, doubts 
and perils that brooded over the issue. The Federal party was 
at that period powerful by its numbers, and formidable from 
its wealth, its antecedents, and the exalted cliaracters of its 
leaders. Those wise and sagacious leaders, however, with rare 
exceptions, were deluded into the mistaken and fatal policy of 
opposing the government in a contest that involved the glory 
and existence of the nation. 

Parties occupied these antagonistic attitudes in December, 
1812, when the Republicans of Vermont presented James Fisk, 
William Strong, William C. Bradley, Ezra Butler and Richard 
Skinner, as candidates for Congress, and exponents of their 
principles. Mr. Bradley is the sole survivor of this patriot 
band ; and venerable in years and character, he lives to impart 
with oracular wisdom, like Nestor, to the third generation, the 
lessons of his youth and experience of his age. 

Although the Republicans had held a decided ascendency in 
Vermont, party strength was so nearly balanced in the State, 
that this preponderance was liable to be disturbed by the oc- 
currence of any inauspicious event. The conduct of the war 
had been discreditable, and its results disastrous and pregnant 
with ill-omened auguries for the future. This fact necessarily 
exerted a sinister influence npon the Administration candidates, 



16 

in a frontier State, at an election transpiring immediately upon 
the close of such a campaign. 

Another incident was still more depressing in its eflfects. The 
election occurred while the drafted militia of the State were 
returning from the northern frontier. They had been dis- 
charged by the Government without pay and with no ar- 
rangements having been made for a comfortable return to their 
homes. They were generally destitute of all means ; and, as 
they wandered along the highways of the State, were depend- 
ent for subsistence upon public or private charity. They sick- 
ened and died upon the roads, of a frightful pestilence, the germs 
of which they widely difTiised, and which spread in terrible deso- 
lation through New England. The Federalists were not remiss 
in seizing this new weapon in party warfare, and raised a wild 
clamor against the recklessness and sordid policy of the Admin- 
istration, and pointed to these horrors as incidents and results 
of its measures. 

The canvass which followed, was perhaps the most vehement 
and imbittered contest that ever agitated the politics of Ver- 
mont. The issue was exceedingly doubtful, although the Ee- 
publican candidates were elect(;d by a very close and unsatis- 
factory vote. At the ensuing election in 1814 they were de- 
feated, and their places in Congress occupied by Federal suc- 
cessors. 

The 13th Congress was one of the most able and momentous 
which has convened since the august and memorable Assembly 
that proclaimed our national independence. It was remarkable 
for the bright constellation of youthful statesmen, which had 
then just appeared above the horizon. Some of these, growing 
more and more resplendent as they advanced in their course, 
imparted a lustre to the history of their country by their wis- 



17 

dom and eloquence, and sank to rest amid a nation's tears and 
reverence. One, second to no other in the massive grandeur 
of his intellect, or in an early fame, resting on patriotic servi- 
ces, darted at length from his orbit, and like an eccentric and 
malignant meteor shedding a baneful influence over the land, 
left to his country a heritage of woe. I need scarcely recall the 
memory of Webster and Clay — of Calhoun and Grundy and 
Lowndes, as among the brilliant members of this illustrious As- 
sembly. 

Mr. Skinner does not appear to have actively participated in 
the debates of the House. It was a forum not adapted to his 
tastes and habits. He was young, modest and retiring, and 
oppressed by an infirm health, that paralyzed his activity 
through life and marred his usefulness. In the first session he 
was placed on the eminently important Committee on Naval Af- 
fairs, and in the second session was also a member of the Joint 
Committee on Enrolled bills. In this capacity Mr. Skinner en- 
joyed the grateful distinction to an ardent and exultant patriot, 
of reporting to the house a resolution commemorative of the 
achievements of Burrows, McCall and Perry. I also find his 
name on special Committees of importance. 

At the expiration of his term in Congress, Mr. Skinner re- 
turned to his profes'sional duties, with augmented zeal and in- 
terest. The affinities o( his mind and feelings were more in ac- 
cordance with efforts at the bar, than in the conflicts of the po- 
litical arena. His career in public life was marked by eminent 
ability and the most effective services ; yet the cabals and gla- 
diatorial combats of politics were not adapted to his studies, 
nor congenial with his tastes. The gentleman from whose com- 
prehensive letter I have so freely quoted, observes : " Though 
3 



18 

I have no doubt in the move youthful portions of his life, Mr. 
Skinner had some aspirations for political distinction, yet on 
tlie whole I think he found little pleasure in the strife and con- 
tention of political life." Judge Bennett adds : " Thus much, 
I feel, however, may in truth be said of Richard Skinner as a 
politician: He was both ' honest and capable,' and on trial 
was found adequate to discharge well the duties of any politi- 
cal office the people chose to confer upon him." 

Mr. Skinner was a lawyer from instincts as well as the 
science of books. Nature had moulded his mind into a peculiar 
adaptation to the profound and earnest researches of jurispru- 
dence, and for the logical, although unpremeditated discussions 
of the bar. The love of the profession was with him an 
impassioned sentiment. Allusion has been made to the zeal 
and interest with which his feelings were blended with the 
cause of his client. The force of this feeling was illustrated 
bj' an incident which I often heard adverted to in the family. 
Mr. Skinner had returned from a journey, in which he sought 
relief from an attack of a nervous aflfection, induced by in- 
tense professional labor, just as the Circuit Court was open- 
ing its session. He judged himself incompetent to an appear- 
ance in Court, and had yielded to other Counsel the charge of 
his business. One client, more sagacious or decided than the 
others, insisted on his attendance during an important trial, to 
observe its progress, although he should have no participation 
in its conduct. With great reluctance, Mr. Skinner yielded to 
this importunity. The case proceeded; his interest was gradu- 
ally aroused; soon he began to ofl'er suggestions; and at length 
all his professional enthusiasm was enkindled; his malady was 
cast ofi", and he threw himself with a wonted energy into the 
trial. The veil was lifted from his mind; his nerves recovered 



19 

their natural tension, and through the remainder of the term he 
assumed his usual active position. 

The Republican party, at the election of 1815, resumed its 
ascendancy in the Slate. Mr. Skinner was elected a Representa- 
tive from Manchester. The appointment of a new Supreme 
Court was one of the earliest measures of the Legislature. The 
Hon. Asa Aldis was appointed Chief Justice, and Richard 
Skinner and James Fish, Associate Judges. After his appoint- 
ment, Mr. Skinner did not engage actively in the legislative 
business of the session. The next year Judge Aldis declined a 
reelection, and Mr. Skinner was elevated to the position he had 
so worthily occupied. In ISIT Judge Skinner was again elected 
Chief Justice; but physical infirmities compelled him to with- 
draw from the bench. 

He was a second time, in 1818, elected a Representative to the 
General Assembly, and was chosen Speaker of the House. 
During this series of years, in the intermission of public duties, 
Mr. Skinner was vigorously pursuing his professional labors, 
and in the attainment of eminent distinction. 

In the year 1819 he was leading Counsel for the defendants 
in the extraordinary trial of the Boones, for the alleged murder 
of Russell Colvin: one of the most remarkable trials in the 
annalsof Courts, and which is justly classed among "The Causes 
Celebres" of criminal jurisprudence. It was an instance of 
those strange popular delusions, which sometimes sweep through 
the most intelligent and conscientious communities, subverting 
truth and reason and justice. Mr. Skinner once said to me " that 
it would have been as easy to resist the cataract of Niagara as to 
arrest this torrent of passion and prejudice." After struggling in 
vain before the Court and jury, to save the Boones, Mr. Skinner, 
in connection with other citizens, appealed to the Legislature, 



20 

Here, one of the Boones was rescued from an impending scaffold, 
to be consigned to perpetual imprisonment; but the other was 
left to the course of his sentence. Mr. Skinner then embraced 
the last and desperate expedient of attempting to trace Colvin 
by the agency of the press. This course, by a singular coinci- 
dence of events, led to his discovery in the interior of New 
Jersey, where, years before, he had wandered an idiotic maniac. 
He was brought back to Manchester, amid the ringing of bells, 
the pealing of cannon, and the shouts of a people who trembled 
in contemplating the precipice toward which they had been 
impelled by their sad delusion. The multitude stopped not for 
the cold process of the law, but rent asunder the chains of 
Boone, and restored him at once to his family and freedom. 

At the election of 1820 Mr. Skinner was chosen Governor of 
the state by almost a perfect unanimity in the popular vote. 
After the signal discom6ture of the federalists, in 1817, until 
the year 1827, when the Anti-Masonic excitement surged over 
the state, no organized opposition to the predominant party 
existed. The three successive terms in which Mr. Skinner 
occupied the executive chair, was a period of great prosperity 
to the people, and of social and political calm. The era of 
good feeling prevailed; our country was advancing quietly, 
but by colossal strides, in her course of greatness and power; 
we were agitated by no domestic convulsions or external perils. 
No event, therefore, occurred to render his administration 
memorable, or to impress any especial interest upon his state 
papers. 

The communication of Judge Bennett embraces this idea: 
" Mr. Skinner was evidently from early life a favorite of the 
people." The justness of this view is attested by the multipli- 
city of oflSces he received from the spontaneous action of the 



21 

popular heart. This fact may doubtless be attributed to the 
universal reverence felt for the purity and integrity of his 
character, and the commanding influence of bis great abilities. 
But I think it should also in part be referred to the singular 
harmony in sentiments, habits and opinions which subsisted 
between him and the people with whom his fortunes were 
associated. The population of Vermont, at the epoch of Mr. 
Skinner's public career, was one of the most homogeneous and 
distinctive communities in the Union. The opinions and princi- 
ples of no people were so little modified by extraneous in- 
fluences. Intercourse was slight and unusual between the 
masses and the external world. The arrival of the mail or the 
post coach, in many sections of the State, was the exciting 
event of the day or the week. No huge cancers ulcerated upon 
the body politic. While instances of great estates rarely oc- 
curred, cases of extreme poverty were almost equally remark- 
able. A respectable competency generally prevailed. High 
intelligence, social refinement, and the amenities of life charac- 
terized the educated classes. But with all this there existed 
great practical and social equality, and little ostentation in 
customs; while a uniform republican simplicity was impressed 
on all the features of society. By its mountains and isolation, 
from the character of its people and their all pervading love of 
liberty, Vermont was regarded the Switzerland of America; 
and the Ark of freedom, however tost and driven by the tempest 
elsewhere, might here have found an Ararat of safety and of 
hope. 

In all their peculiarities of habits and sentiments Mr. Skin- 
ner was a symbol of the people of Vermont. Deeply imbued 
with democratic tastes and principles, he was cox'dial and un- 
pretentious in his manners; simple in his habits, and identified 



22 

with the feelings and interests of his neighhors: he harmonized 
with the people. 

While indulging in this train of reflections in regard to your 
State, I refer to a period which has now become historical, and 
I trust therefore that I am not amenable to the censure of inter- 
fering with those things with which a stranger should not 
meddle. Nor am I willing to be held to that position. I was 
once proud in being a freeman of Vermont, and my deepest and 
tenderest affections still linger around its homes and its graves. 

In a delicate and fastidious recoiling from urging himself 
any pretensions, or allowing his friends to exert any influence 
to promote his preferment, the views of Mr. Skinner were 
peculiarly assimilated to the opinions which, at that time at 
least, prevailed among the citizens of Vermont. He felt that 
office should seek the individual, and this feeling became with 
him a controlling principle. I recollect on one occasion sug- 
gesting to him the propriety of adopting some slight measure, 
which I was assured would secure his election to a dignified 
position. He replied, and the earnestness of his manner almost 
approached a rebuke, " I never have and never will raise a finger 
to promote my personal advancement." 

The testimony of Judge Pierpont, one of his most true and 
confidential friends, is emphatic in reference to this marked 
trait in the character of Mr. Skinner. He says: "Mr. Skinner 
would have considered it a gross violation of good rules to 
make any effort to obtain office for himself; and although he 
knew I was ardently attached to him, and was in a situation to 
afford effective aid to his success when he was a candidate for 
office, yet I do not recollect that during the whole course of 
his political career he ever requested me to do anything, or 



23 

advised with me, in relation to any means or efforts calculated 
to promote his success." 

In his third executive message, which was at the session of 
1822, Mr. Skinner announced the determination not to be a 
candidate for reelection. Upon the termination of his services 
as Governor the Legislature with equal promptitude and una- 
nimity recalled him to his former position of Chief Judge of the 
Supreme Court, vacated by the election of Judge Van Ness as 
Executive of the State. Mr. Skinner was annually elected to 
this eminent place in five consecutive years. In 1828 his 
declining health admonished him to decline a re-appointment. 
"But," Mr. Sargeant writes, "such was his high reputation as 
a jurist, that the Legislature was not disposed to dispense with 
the services of a man who had done so much to bring the 
judiciary of Vermont to its elevated reputation, and the posi- 
tion, in the last hours of the session, was again forced upon 
him." A free and emphatic homage like this to judicial char- 
acter has few, if any, parallels in the annals of the bench in 
this or any other Government. 

The judicial career of Richard Skinner, although a large 
proportion of his decisions were never published, f()rms the 
loftiest and most enduring monument to his fame. The follow- 
ing vigorous and appreciative delineation of his qualities as a 
judge is from the pen of a former member of your judiciary, 
who practised in the courts over which Judge Skinner presided 
during the whole of his judicial administration. Judge Bennett 
remarks: 

"As a Judge, it is no flattery or exaggeration to say of him, 
he was a model judge. Not that he surpassed all other judges 
in strength or legal acumen — many were his equals in these 
respects, and some, no doubt, his superiors — but he had a rare 



24 

facility, an adaptedness in trying causes. He presided at a trial 
with ease and true dignity, and at once commanded the respect 
of the bar. He was uncommonly accurate in all the details of a 
trial, and patient in understanding fully both the facts and the 
law of the case on trial. In his charges to the jury he was 
remarkably lucid, and could rarely be misunderstood by Counsel 
or jury. Though his manner of charging a jury was not dicta- 
torial, yet it was decisive, and he evidently impressed upon the 
mind of a jury that it was their duty to follow unhesitatingly 
the instruction of the Court. It was rare that you could find a 
Judge who would preside so well at a jury trial as Judge 
Skinner. As a Judge in Banc he had most excellent qualities. 
He was patient of investigation, accurate as a lawyer, and 
inflexible in his purpose to have the true law of the case govern 
the Court in the decision of the cause. He was truly conserva- 
tive as a Judge, and utterly opposed to upsetting long and well 
established precedents. His idea was that it was the business 
of a Judge to administer the law as he found it, not to make new 
law, because the old did not suit him." 

The tribute of Mr. Sargeant is corroborative of this exalted 
estimate of Mr. Skinner's judicial character. He says: "All his 
reported opinions shew great research into authority — basing 
his conclusions on adjudicated cases, rather than the theories of 
elementary writers. Hence the mere dicta so often thrown out 
by even able Judges, weighed little with him, unless sustained 
by good reasons. " No jurist ever erected a loftier standard of an 
elevated judiciary. He felt that the ermine should not only be 
unspotted, but that it should be unsullied by the breath of 
suspicion on the personal character of him whom it distin- 
guished. Although most unpretentious in asserting his indi- 
vidual claims to consideration, as a Judge, he always exacted 



25 

respect, and upon the bench assumed an attitude of severe 
dignity that almost reached a chilling sternness. It was a 
common remark among the people, that Judge Skinner required 
no of3ficial to preserve order in his courts. A single glance from 
his dark and piercing eye, raised from his notes, was enough 
in a moment to suppress any disturbance in the most crowded 
court room. 

After retiring from the bench, in 1828, Mr. Skinner did not 
again enter into public life. 

In the dislocation of the Democratic party, and the contests 
connected with the elevation of General Jackson, Mr. Skinner 
sustained the policy and the candidate of New England. He 
adhered in 1832 with generous attachment to the declining 
fortunes of Mr. Clay. 

Mr. Skinner was a zealous and efiScient promoter of the 
interests of education, in all its departments. In 18n he was 
elected to the Board of Trustees of Middlebury College, and in 
the same year received the honorary degree of Master of Arts 
from that institution. He was President, for many years, of 
the " N. W. branch of the Education Society." He was the 
intimate friend of Joseph Burr, and his adviser in the distribu- 
tion of a vast estate. Mr. Skinner drew the will (impregnable 
through his skill and caution to the severe assaults to which it 
was subjected), which diffused in deep and fertilizing streams, 
such vast beneficence, to varied institutions of learning and 
Christian benevolence. 

After the retirement from the bench, until his death, in 1833, 

infirm health incapaciated Mr. Skinner from engaging in any 

active occupation. In this interval he spent one or two winters 

at the South. His health and vigor appeared to improve in the 

4 



spring of 1833; aud he stated to me, after his injuries, that on 
the morning of the 10th of May, as he was preparing for his 
fatal excursion, the thought crossed his mind that his symptoms 
of returning health were more favorable than they had been 
for many years. He left home with Mrs. Skinner, in a light 
vehicle, to cross the turnpike tlirough a gorge in the Green 
Mountains. The horse slightly started from the road, and the 
carriage striking a trifling obstacle, he was thrown out. In 
his anxiety for Mrs. Skinner's safety, he retained the lines, and 
was thus drawn violently over some stones. Several ribs were 
broken, and other severe internal injuries inflicted. He lingered 
in great sufi"ering until the 23d of May, and died with the full 
possession of his faculties, serene, resigned and happy. 

A death of such calmness and submission, was amply assured 
by a well spent life, and a clear and firm Christian hope. A 
day or two before he expired, Mr. Skinner desired me to feel 
his pulse. When I was startled by its frightful acceleration, 
he looked up, with a placid and beaming countenance, and 
remarked: "My feeble frame can not long endure a torrent like 
that; but I would not turn over my hand to decide the issue of 
life or death." He had not then reached his fifty-fifth year — a 
period of life when he should have been in the ripeness of his 
age, and in the plenitude of his powers and usefulness. 

Mr. Skinner had three children who reached an adult age. 
One daughter preceded her father to the grave; another died 
in 1845; and his only son, the Hon. Mark Skinner, a resident 
of Chicago, still lives, Mrs. Skinner within a few years was 
slumbering with her husband beneath the same marble memo- 
rial, in the bosom of her beautiful native valley, and amid the 
gorgeous Alpine scenery which encompasses it. 

From early life Mr. Skinner had yielded his intellectual convic- 



27 

tions and profound reverence to the truths of the Christian faith; 
but it was not until towards the close of his life that he was led 
through the paths of deep domestic affliction to the Cross of 
Christ for hope, strength and consolation. He united with the 
Congregational church in 1829, and from that act his Ciiristian 
course was firm and consistent, onward and upward. He en- 
gaged earnestly in the performance of every religious duty and 
observance, and in the patronage and promotion of all benevo- 
lent and moral objects. Mr. Skinner became deeply enlisted in 
the Sunday school operations, and devoted himself each Sab- 
bath to the patient instruction of a Bible class. 

No public man ever diffused a wider or more benignant in- 
fluence in society than that exerted by Mr. Skinner upon the 
community with whom he resided. None was ever more loved 
and revered while living, or whose memory was more cherished 
and venerated when dead. 

In relation to the personal character of Mr. Skinner Judge 
Pierpont observes : " I think I knew him thoroughly. He 
appeared to place the most implicit confidence in me in all 
business matters, and I never knew a man of more strict and 
unbending integrity. He never could abide anything mean or 
tricky either in business affairs, professional practice or poli- 
tics," Judge Bennett has obliged mo with a more extended 
commentary on the private life of Mr. Skinner: "I had," he 
says, "every facility to become well acquainted with the dis- 
tinguishing traits of his character, both private and public. 
His moral tone was high, and I think him to have been one of 
the most conscientious men I have ever known. A purer 
minded man has seldom visited this earth. I now do not re- 
collect of ever hearing him make an impure allusion. He was 
inflexible in his purposes to do right. In conversation he was 



28 

animated and highly instructive. Although his tl)oughts were 
quick, they were almost uniformly just and sagacious, and 
evinced a most reflective mind. His advice in all the ordinary 
concerns of life was of the most valuable kind; and most valued 
by those who knew him best. He was quick to foresee good 
and to predict evil, and was always ready to give a satisfac- 
tory reason for his conclusions. He was easy and familiar in 
conversation, and made others feel easy in his company, but 
always dignified in his deportment. Frivolity in action or 
conversation found no favor with him. He seemed conscious 
that he was an immortal being, and that it was his happiness 
to do right in all his public and private relations. In his rela- 
tion as husband and parent he was thoughtful, kind and affec- 
tionate, and yet very decided in liis influence. As a husband 
and father he furnished an example worthy of all imitation." 

I close my quotations from these historical documents, by a 
brief but significant extract from the letter of Mr. Sargeant. 
" Of his social qualities," he says, " in the domestic circle, as 
well as in every thing pertaining to good order in the commu- 
nity, he might be said literally to be always riglit " 

In the rapid outline I have exhibited of the intellectual 
powers, the public services, and the domestic and social quali- 
ties of Mr. Skinner, formed rather from the convictions and 
judgment of those who knew him best, than by my own filial 
impressions, I have presented the lineaments, not only of a 
great, but those of a just, pure and good man. All who are 
able to recall the memory and career of Richard Skinner, will 
recognize and approve the portraiture. 

To the animated and discriminating views of the eminent 
gentlemen whose recollections have aff(,)rded me such affluent 
fountains of information, I can desire to add little flowing from 



29 

my persoual knowledge or opinions. In the domestic inter- 
course of Mr. Skinner, a gentle kindness and aifectionate care 
prevailed that diffused about his household an atmosphere of 
almost feminine tenderness. He formed a home where intellec- 
tual culture, refined taste, and a genial but unostentatious 
hospitality revealed their influence; in which deep and unaf- 
fected piety manifested its power and adorned and sanctified 
the circle. The natural feelings of Mr. Skinner were quick and 
impulsive, and his temperament ardent and impassioned; but 
these infirmities were first controlled by reason and judgment, 
and afterwards restrained by grace. Mr. Skinner was short in 
figure, and extremely light and slender. Disease rather than 
age had marked his countenance with deep furrows. His com- 
plexion was dark, and his black hair at the time of his decease 
had become deeply grizzled. 

I never perceived or heard suggested that the defects of 
early education limited the mental powers of Mr. Skinner. I 
have often thought, however, that his intellectual stature did 
not attain the ample proportions that nature contemplated. 
His mind might have received a higher development had he 
not been cut down in the meridian of life — had not perpetual 
disease fettered his energies — or had he occupied a broader 
field of action, in which his faculties might have more widely 
expatiated. 

Amid the common duties of life he was honest, accurate and 
judicious. In the constitution of his mind, the faculties were so 
perfectly balanced and so reciprocately subordinated, that while 
none predominated, each was strengthened and embellished by 
the combination of the whole. And the affections of his heart, 
by a singular felicity, were beautifully blended with the quali- 
ties of his mind, each moulding and influencing the other. 



30 

As a citizen, the patriotism of Mr. Skinner was all controlling 
and uniform. Ho venerated and loved with no common pas- 
sion the Democratic institutions of the country, and he would 
have incurred any trial, or yielded every sacrifice in their de- 
fence and preservation. 

Few public men of the nation, as individuals, as citizens or 
statesmen, have so closely assimilated in their characters aud 
principles, as Richard Skinner, to the beautiful and impressive 
ideal of the Latin poet: 

" Justum ac tenacem prepositi virum : 
Non civium ardor prava jubentinin. 
Noil viiltus, instantlr. tyranui — 
MeJiU- quaiit riolida."' 



^E:i9 






J?-'*-. 



>^^ o_ 






"^..^ 







-"\r... 









,0 






■^-^ 



A 







^oV^ 



^^0^ 



^^-^^^ V 








'bV' 






> ^^-^^^ V 






■••%/'■■ 

A 




.4^ .0-0 




- "^ 



-^ .♦ 



0^ o 















•- %/=V^>>Vo^ 



jP-n*. 






.55 °^ ■ 



\~ii'- 









„ _ X^^"^ ' 

C, vP 












% 



"*-..^''* «i^' 













"^^ *' . 














t-o^ 







-6--' ^ 



\. 







Cu ** -'^'-^ /.; 



0^ »: 







/".- 



.-^q. 







^-^^^ 








'■■/. 






^^''^ '^i^^^^ .'^'"^ -aM^.^ .^^"^ 'A^'^ 







.<" 



^/'"^"./>.-X. 



^oV 



-a^" 



-^^0^ 










V »J 






-c.^^' 



■ .*'% • 










^of 















♦ 




>0^ 

















'*.^<'* •' 
.«^'"-* 






